This InfoGram will be distributed weekly to provide members of the Emergency Services Sector with information concerning the protection of their critical infrastructures. For further information, contact the Emergency Management and Response - Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) at (301) 447-1325 or by email at emr-isac@fema.dhs.gov.
The Emergency Management and Response-Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) comprehends that critical infrastructures are the foundation of every community activity and, for that reason, warrant attention and protection. Considering this understanding, the logic espoused by the EMR-ISAC for the Emergency Services Sector (ESS) is to invest scarce resources to protect only the people, things, and systems (i.e., critical infrastructures) that are truly essential for organizational survivability, continuity, and response-ability.
Realizing that many ESS departments and agencies cannot obtain the resources to protect strictly critical infrastructures, the EMR-ISAC suggests critical infrastructure resiliency as a possible cost-effective alternative. Critical infrastructure resiliency refers to the capability to expeditiously recover and reconstitute vital services with minimum disruption to public health, safety, and security. In other words, resiliency pertains to the quicker recovery from man-made and natural disasters with an earlier return to normal operations.
Frequently, the EMR-ISAC has written that personnel are the foremost of an organization's critical infrastructures. Without the intelligent and innovative attributes of ESS personnel, other internal infrastructures would be unsustainable, faulty, and undependable. In reality, an organization's infrastructures are completely dependent upon the people within the department or agency. Therefore, the EMR-ISAC maintains that an organization's personnel should be at the center of any critical infrastructure protection or resilience program.
According to researchers from Northumbria University in the United Kingdom, when referring to the human element, the essence of resilience focuses on the rapid recovery from distress, illness or hardship. "One who is resilient may be considered irrepressible, buoyant, enduring, flexible; the person who bounces back-unchanged-from exposure to stresses and shocks." Hence, resilience can be considered as a "shield, shock absorber or buffer" that moderates the effect of an event to ensure minimal negative outcomes. Consequently, the ESS human resilience emphasis should be on the process of enhancing responder capacity to recuperate from any operation within the shortest possible time and with little or no outside assistance. The EMR-ISAC suggests that a concentration on personnel resilience for all hazards will likely bolster individual survivability and durability, and yield potential ancillary benefits for the organization.
Considering the escalating situation in the Middle East, increasing adversary surveillance in the United States, and the probability of a future terrorist attack in America, the Emergency Management and Response-Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) recommends continued "situation awareness" and unabated scrutiny for suspicious activities involving national critical infrastructures. All personnel of the Emergency Services Sector (ESS) are strongly encouraged to use the following checklist (gleaned from multiple sources) to locate and identify suspicious persons in their jurisdictions:
ESS personnel observing individuals who meet one or more of the items on this checklist should immediately call their local law enforcement agency and attempt to maintain visual contact of the suspicious persons. If detained by police authorities and confirmed to be suspicious, the matter should be reported to the local FBI office for additional investigation and reporting.
A survey conducted in late 2005 by the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians (NAEMT) found that 47 per cent of Emergency Services Sector (ESS) workers sustained a back injury while performing emergency medical duties. The Emergency Management and Response-Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) examined new research about low back pain, which is the most common and costliest muscuolosketal disorder in the American workplace. Additional study of this malady indicates that back disorders can degrade an organization's personnel infrastructure and, potentially, its response operations.
Writing for EMSResponder.com, Dick Blanchet and Scott Tiepelman described a pervasive back injury problem within the ESS and how back injuries can permanently sideline excellent emergency responders. They maintain back injuries frequently force responders from their chosen career and cause an occasional disruption to organizational activities.
Another article by Dave Long offers information to help avoid back injuries, including tips regarding training techniques.
Additionally, a study funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and conducted by Ohio State University (OSU) examined what happens to muscle oxygenation (oxygen needed to feed back muscles) over a full workday. OSU professors William Marras and Gang Yang, M.D., found that oxygen demand at the end of the day was much higher, leading to an increase in back injuries close to the end of a work shift. Their study highlighted two important points. "First, rest is good-a half-hour break does a good job of helping muscles recover." They said, "It also tells us that people are especially at risk for back injury at the end of the day, and the only way to counteract that effect is with more breaks as the day goes on."
Finally, a Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital study found that back pain results in more than 100 million lost work days annually. Considering these facts, the EMR-ISAC suggests ESS leaders review their training guidelines and preventive measures to mitigate back injuries among their critical personnel infrastructure.
The most popular components of CAMEO� (Computer-Aided Management of Emergency Operations), the software that aids Emergency Services Sector (ESS) personnel in planning for and responding to chemical accidents quickly, while offering safe actions to protect responders, are available now in a user-friendlier online version.
The newer version provides access to the same CAMEO database of more than 6,000 hazardous materials, but the revised search engine is faster and simplifies chemical queries, including mixing chemicals and reading reactivity hazard predictions. The chemical data sheets feature an adjusted layout to make them more readable. Downloads and installations are no longer necessary and frequently referenced data sheets can be bookmarked.
CAMEOfm Version 1.2, MARPLOT Version 3.3.3, and ALOHA Version 5.4.1 for Windows and Mac OSX were updated and made available last month.
CAMEO developers are testing the CAMEO programs on the Windows Vista operating system, and initial results indicate that the programs will run in Vista, although some potential issues (on-screen help in ALOHA and MARPLOT) have been identified. Users are advised not to install the program in their Program Files folder until the development team completes its testing and posts additional instructions.
The EMR-ISAC notes that numerous ESS organizations have used CAMEO for planning and operations, and to help protect their personnel and physical infrastructure for more than 20 years. It has been downloaded more than 200,000 times in the last three years by responders, emergency planners, industry representatives, computer programmers, public officials, and emergency managers to administer all types of planning and emergency functions. These functions include natural disasters as well as planning for major events like the Democratic National Convention. CAMEO is also used as the primary GIS system in many Emergency Operations Centers.
The Department of Homeland Security offers free CAMEO courses anywhere in the U.S. Information about the courses (MGT 320 and MGT 320-1) can be found by scrolling to pages 67-68 of the Training Program Course Catalog (PDF, 887 Kb).
The U.S. Fire Administration/EMR-ISAC does not endorse the organizations sponsoring linked websites, and does not endorse the views they express or the products/services they offer.
This INFOGRAM may contain copyrighted material that was not specifically authorized by the copyright owner. EMR-ISAC personnel believe this constitutes "fair use" of copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use copyrighted material contained within this document for your own purposes that go beyond "fair use," you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
DHS and the FBI encourage recipients of this document to report information concerning suspicious or criminal activity to DHS and/or the FBI. The DHS National Operation Center (NOC) can be reached by telephone at 202-282-9685 or by email at NOC.Fusion@dhs.gov.
The FBI regional phone numbers can be found online at www.fbi.gov/contact/fo/fo.htm
For information affecting the private sector and critical infrastructure, contact the National Infrastructure Coordinating Center (NICC), a sub-element of the NOC. The NICC can be reached by telephone at 202-282-9201 or by email at NICC@dhs.gov.
When available, each report submitted should include the date, time, location, type of activity, number of people and type of equipment used for the activity, the name of the submitting company or organization, and a designated point of contact.
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